870 gazillion guns

You can’t underestimate how important Borderlands is to Gearbox Software. It’s the game that put studio on the map. Sure, the team worked on other franchises such as the notable Brother in Arms series, but that never made as much noise or captured gamers’ imagination as the team’s foray on Pandora.

So what does Gearbox do for a sequel? They listen to fans, refine the formula and give them more. Judging by the bombastic trailer, that means something like 870 gazillion guns. I’m sure that’s a technical number.

I had a chance to play Borderlands 2 last month and came away satisfied with the direction the follow-up is taking. The team isn’t messing with a winning formula. Lead designer Jason Reiss said, “We know the co-op experience is there. We’re nailing it.” He said they had the right tone — a mixture of humor and machismo. “There’s loot, finding new gear. Even more shields and more grenade mods. It’s about having a good experience finding things. You’re excited about what’s the next thing is going to be drop.”